paintball gun converted for t-shirts

[peter]

Hi all,
I want to make a t-shirt launcher. I also happen to have an old paintball gun. Can I convert the paintball gun into a t-shirt launcher? Has anyone ever done that? suggestions?
Thanks,
Peter

[e-mail]

[DReynolds]

I don't think a paintball gun releases enough air in each shot to accelerate a T-shirt the length of a barrel. Anyone here involved in paintball? Is there a way to adjust the amount of gas in each shot. I think you might be better off building a pneumatic cannon for 20 bucks. Or, if you still have a fetish for carbon dioxide, use a paintball cannister to pressurize your chamber.

[peter]

I would like to build a pneumatic cannon for 20 bucks but where do I find the plans for such a thing (I am sure that has been asked a million times but I couldn't find any and could't find any search feature).

Thanks loads.

[DReynolds]

These instructions are probably the best for what you want to do:
www.backyardarsenal.com/Spudguns/byoPneuCannon.htm
The only recomendations I can make are to make the chamber a bit longer, get some extra volume, and change the barrel width. You might squeak by with 1.5 inch, but 2" is probably a better bet. Also, this will seem like a broken record, but be sure you cement every single seam and join in this thing, you don't want something with 60 psi inside it to fail.
Besides that, your only major issue will be getting the shirt to stay in the barrel and be airtight. If it doesn't shoot well, try packing wet toilet paper behind it or something to give you a better seal. Good luck, and keep us posted on how it turns out.

[peter]

Wow, that looks cool - thanks for the plans. I will try to build it.

The reason that I was hoping that the paintball gun would work I want a trigger and easy/quick re-pressurizing (co2). It seems that the whole mechanism is set up for rapid fire and if the only thing that would slow me down is the loading of the shirt, that would be great.

It seems the only problem is the amount of gas it pushes down the barrel. Once I get a bigger barrel, it wouldn't fill it up enough to move the shirt. Here is a schematic for the gun I have...
www.paintballskirmish.com/marker-parts/marker-parts.asp

I was hoping to make a shirt-gun that could could be shot at parades and ball games with a trigger and an automatically filled gas chamber from co2 or my air tank. Am I dreaming? Is it possible? Simple?

[DReynolds]

The trigger isn't going to be all that difficult - you can actually buy a solenoid valve used in sprinkler systems that's button-activated. If you wanted to get more adventurous, you can buy trigger-like attachments - I forget what they're called, but if you went to a store and described what you needed, they could help. Tell them it goes on air hoses.
As for the auto-filling - that's one thing I have yet to make a foray into. I'll do a little research, see what I can dig up. (I'm getting excited for this project.)

[tmoney]

I am new at this whole thing to and i dont understand how the whole sprinkler valve and blowgun works as a trigger. i know how to set it up but not how it works. Would someone please help me to understand better.

Thanx ???T-Money

[Uranium238]

For the majority of markers, velocity (increased air volume) is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the force that the striker hits the valve. If it his harder, it will force it back further and let more air out before the pressure of the tank closes it. This is done with a screw to change spring tension on the striker. Increases of volume are limited however since the turbo valve passage and bolt are quite restricted. Paintball markers are meant for low volume, high pressure whie most air cannons are the opposite.

[paintstefan]

put you fps [feetpersecond] up. It should be a knob on the side or back of gun